China to end patent subsidies by 2025

BEIJING, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- China plans to stop all patent subsidies by 2025 to help shift its intellectual property (IP) focus from quantity to quality.

All types of financial aid for patent licensing should be reduced by at least 25 percentage points every year until they are canceled by 2025, according to a notice issued by the National Intellectual Property Administration.

The patent policy is part of China's continuous efforts to eliminate the incidence of Chinese patent applications that can not protect innovation, sources within the administration said on Thursday.

China has led globally in its number of patent applications for many years. But it has recently taken more measures to pursue high-quality IP development to boost the country's innovation drive.